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They only came to light years later after he developed a sense of regret and confessed to officials at Broadmoor in Berkshire two years ago.

He was transferred there under the Mental Health Act part-way through serving a five-year jail term for indecently assaulting two Spanish students at knifepoint in Eastbourne in May 1998.

Shaven-headed Fisher told a doctor that he felt it necessary to confess to his earlier crimes 'because it's so hard to live with it in my head'.

Beryl O'Conner, 75, (left) and Clare Letchford, 40, were attacked in their homes in 1998. Graham Fisher, 37, has been sentenced to 21 years for their deaths, admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility

In the weeks and months after the killings, police had questioned
Fisher about them but during one interview he was deemed unfit to be
interrogated and on a later occasion he declined to answer questions.

Prosecutor
Richard Barton told the court there was insufficient evidence at the
time to charge him over the deaths and he was released by officers.

As
part of his confessions in 2008, Fisher also claimed responsibility for
crimes where there was insufficient evidence and where no complaints
had been made, Mr Barton added.

His admission to the killings
came ten years after his former neighbours Ms O'Connor and Ms Letchford were found strangled and burned in their flats.

Mr Barton said Ms Letchford's father, Frank
Letchford, made his usual Sunday visit to his daughter's rented flat in Hastings, where she lived alone, on January 18 1998.

In
the evening, hours after he had left, neighbours reported seeing smoke belching from her
basement flat.

Found lying on her back, flammable material had
been placed on her and there was evidence of non-fatal compression of
her neck, Mr Barton said.

He went on: 'Despite exhaustive police
inquiries at the time of the murder of Clare Letchford, it wasn't until
2008 that Graham Fisher confessed to it.

'Sadly Frank Letchford died before then and was not to know that someone had admitted causing the death of his daughter.'

Days after Ms Letchford's killing, Fisher tried to murder and attempted to rape a 19-year-old Czech student on board an afternoon Hastings to London Charing Cross service on January 25 1998.

Mr Barton said he tricked his way into the lavatory after seeing her walk in before launching a violent attack on her, rendering her unconscious.

As a result of being strangled, she suffered a stroke, was left in a coma for three days and her injuries leave a lasting impact to this day, Mr Barton added.

The day after the attack on the student, Ms O'Connor was killed in her top-floor flat Hastings, close to Ms Letchford's home.